The K&I Black Summit hosted by Google drew attention after attendees reported that a company gift carried racist implications. The item in question was a notebook bearing the inscription, “At that moment I was just cotton, but I’m here to take your notes” or its variant, “I was once just cotton, but now I’m here to keep your notes.” The message was intended to emphasize environmental sustainability, yet it struck a negative chord given the skin color of the participants (TechCrunch, reporting on the event).
Some Google employees interpreted the word cotton as a possible nod to the historical term “cotton picker,” a reference to Black workers who labored in cotton fields in the 20th century. This historical context intensified the perceived offensiveness of the gift among attendees and observers (TechCrunch).
Google did not refuse to distribute the notebooks at the summit; the company indicated that the notebooks were produced by a third party and that Google did not directly oversee the gift’s creation. When asked whether the gift caused offense to Black colleagues, Google declined to provide a direct comment, citing the third party as the supplier (TechCrunch).
In a separate development, reports indicate that a prior regulatory action related to Google in the Russian Federation involved a financial penalty of 800,000 rubles. This note appears as part of the broader narrative surrounding Google’s global regulatory and public relations challenges across different regions (various sources cited in industry reporting).
The incident underscores the sensitive impact of corporate gifts and the importance of cultural awareness in internal events. It also highlights how third-party vendors and messaging can complicate corporate responsibility narratives, especially in diverse workplaces. Commentators and employees alike call for clearer vetting processes, more inclusive design considerations, and proactive outreach when gifts or materials may intersect with sensitive histories. Industry observers suggest that organizations should align event materials with explicit guidelines to prevent offense while preserving genuine messages about sustainability, diversity, and inclusion (TechCrunch and related event coverage).